


Happy Beginnings

by belizafryler (embracedself), Danni_Bear



Series: Hero [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas fic, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff - No Angst, Gen, Gift Fic, Her Handsome Hero series, NO SPOILERS dearie, Puppy Love, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, holiday fic, more tags to come when I finish uploading the series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-24 23:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22006153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embracedself/pseuds/belizafryler, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Danni_Bear/pseuds/Danni_Bear
Summary: It's Belle's first official Christmas with her Gold boys, and they are determined to make everythingperfect.
Relationships: Ariel & Belle (Once Upon a Time), Baelfire | Neal Cassidy & Belle, Baelfire | Neal Cassidy & Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Baelfire | Neal Cassidy/Grace | Paige, Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Mad Hatter | Jefferson & Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Series: Hero [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1319675
Comments: 5
Kudos: 11





	Happy Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MarieQuiteContrarie (SeaStar1330)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeaStar1330/gifts).



> A belated, but still very Merry Christmas to the lovely MarieQuiteContrarie. We love you, and hope you enjoy the four extra days of Christmas that you get to have within this fic.
> 
> <3,  
> Missy and 'Trina
> 
> (It won't let me tag that Trina helped me write this, but trust me, she did.)

The surface of the fireplace was decorated appropriately for the season, myriads of reds and greens lining the top in alternating layers. Red brick was an excellent backdrop to set off the colors, snow globes and various other holiday-like baubles resting close to the edges. There were icicles of all different sizes hanging from the lip, managing somehow to look uncannily realistic despite the fact that they were plastic. But the real masterpiece was dead in the center, Her Handsome Hero on proud display for all to see. It’s soft cobalt binding meshed easily with the surrounding colors. The effect was as aesthetically pleasing to anyone, but a continual reminder to Bae of how one woman had managed to bring them all together. 

The dragons Gideon had faced were terrifying in their own right, but fictional. They left with the closing of the book and stayed in their world. Belle, though, was real. Real and honest in a way that Bae had never seen before. Or, maybe he had. When Gideon had saved Giselle and went to battle not with a sword and an army but compassion and understanding. _That,_ Belle always said, was what had made him a hero. It was what made Belle a hero. Not just in the pages of a storybook or in make-believe kingdoms far and wide, but here. Now. With him and his Papa on Christmas Eve in her pajamas and socks. Miss Belle had been an icon, an inspiration, a figure made up of ideals that he hadn’t quite understood. But _Belle_ was real. Not just an inspiration, but someone who actually inspired.

“Lost in thought?” It took Bae a moment to realise it wasn’t a voice inside his head, but actually outside — Belle was here!

Bae fought his instinctive smile by biting hard at the inside of his cheek and tilted his head in response to her question. “Not so much lost as deep in thought. It’s your first official Christmas with us and I'm…” Overwhelmed. He was overwhelmed. Like he was back in the restaurant all over again, staring up at the woman who was and would always be his saviour, petrified of embarrassing himself but too excited to stop talking. That feeling hadn’t gone away, and now all these years later she was still a beacon of light and hope, of truth and justice. She was also wearing faded gray socks and a fuzzy pink robe with the words _“Merry Christmas!”_ scribbled across the top in what looked like a kindergarteners handwriting. 

“And how do you feel about that?” Belle’s intelligent blue eyes caught his gaze. Staring right into his soul, like she could see the truth and his present for her right in front of her. But no, she wasn’t that good. Was she? Bae was only pretty sure she wasn’t.

“I’m happy. And I just want everything to be perfect.” _So you don’t leave,_ he added silently. 

Belle mimicked his stance, tilting her head to look at him with a curious expression. She looked almost sad, or maybe confused. “Bae…” And that’s how he knew he was a goner. She hadn’t used that tone of voice with him in years, when he had insisted that he wasn’t tired and could stay awake through another chapter just to hear her voice as he drifted to sleep. “It’s already perfect. You and Alec are going to be there, with me, and that’s all I need. That’s all I'll ever need, okay?” In the flickering light of their fireplace, she looked completely serious. Her eyes were soft and warm, affectionate as always, but firm. Serious. 

It took Bae two tries to get his voice to work, stopped by the unexpected lump in his throat. _Do you have any idea,_ he wondered, _how much I need you? How many times you have saved me from myself, from my doubts?_ It was an endless cycle of worrying if he was enough, why his mother didn’t care, of what he had done wrong to make her stay away… But it was too much. And then, Belle. She could give him a _look_ and it was enough to warm him for days. She would wind up giving him so many looks, and hugs, and even goodnight stories that he felt like sometimes he would burst. So, he smiled, and forced the memories away. They were just memories, and they couldn’t hurt him now. “Yeah, I think I understand that—” and because Belle still looked a little concerned he added, “But presents are still nice. Just saying.” 

“Oh yes, presents are always good. But you know what? Your presence has been a present in my life for…. How many years now?” Belle asked playfully, walking closer to him and wrapping him up in a hug from behind.

Bae grinned. “I think three years now,” He lied. Of course, he was more up to date of how long it’d been: He and his father had been planning something very special for Belle, but of course Belle wasn’t supposed to know about that.

“Three years, and you still try and buy me presents at every turn. Cheeky boy!” But Belle was still smiling, and Bae was still warm inside.

“It’s not my fault! Papa does it too, remember?” He leaned into her hug. “We’re trying to spoil you.” He announced lazily, leaning his head back to look up at her chin from his vantage point.

“Are you giving away trade secrets to the enemy now, Baden?” Alec’s voice made Belle look up, which in turn made Bae fall down from his leaning point.

“Good afternoon.” Alec was amused, laughing as he noticed his son fall to the floor. Normal, good parental behaviour Bae was sure.

“How was work?” Belle spoke up, reaching up on her tip-toes to give Alec a kiss in greeting.

“It was fine. What did you two get up to today?” Bae was off school for the holidays, so Belle had taken to holing herself up in the library as a reading-and-writing nook, _just in case_ he needed an adult.

Bae shrugged before giving his brand new PS4 a pointed look, smirking when Alec shook his head in dramatic despair. Belle grinned down at him before offering a hand that he quickly took, laughing outright at the huff of strain as she pulled him to his feet. Her response was an indignant glare and a tongue stuck out at him, which made him laugh even harder.

“I should have never given you one of those.” The pleased smile he was sporting belied his words, and Bae smiled back at the sight of it. “I am glad to see it actually manages to hold your attention though, unlike your brief infatuation with the art of skateboarding.” 

Across from him, Belle shuddered. “Actually, I really don’t mind that he dropped that particular hobby. In the slightest. A wise choice, Bae.” Bae looked over at the door, particularly the coat rack where his skateboard still lay.

It was a black skateboard on the backs, with wheels of the same hue. However, the top and most visible part of the rolling machine was painted in shades of greens, golds and yellows. It had ‘Hero’ written on it in a scrawled graffiti. A piece of merchandise that Bae had helped to make himself.

The doorbell rang just as Alec put away his coat. So it was Papa who opened the door, and welcomed Grace Hatter inside.

Almost as soon as the girl stepped into their house, Bae felt his cheeks get warmer and his palms start to sweat which was truly _ridiculous_ in his opinion. He’d known Grace for years, but now… He wasn’t quite sure when his feelings for her had changed. It was a natural progression, he assumed, something that came with growing up. But, no other girl made him feel the way Grace did. She was on a constant loop in the back of his mind: Grace, Grace, Grace. They had gone out to the lake behind his Papa’s cabin last summer and the sight on her beaming smile in the sunlight had made his heart beat faster for no reason. But that hadn’t been the end of it, she was everywhere now. Her eyes followed him long after they said goodbye, the small smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth right before she had dunked him underwater. Had she always been so beautiful? And what was it about her laugh now that made it hard to catch his breath? 

“Bae?” Belle’s voice and a blink brought him back from his memory of that summer, clear blue skies and Grace’s smile being replaced with bright, fluorescent lights and a single raised eyebrow. “Does that sound like something you would be interested in?” 

Oh crap. Someone had asked him a question? “Uh, yeah! For sure!” 

Grace’s eyebrows twitched up in shock before she beamed at him, making Bae’s stomach swoop alarmingly. “Great! I’ll tell my dad! Honestly he was so worried that he would run out of time since Christmas was so close but with your help, we just might make it after all!” Bae nodded along, smiling as best he could as his brain scrambled to recall their conversation before he had lost himself in a daydream. 

“I’m sure that you all will be done with plenty of time to spare,” Alec assured her, “Your father might have procrastinated putting up all of his Christmas lights until the very last minute, but Bae is a hard worker. It will be done before you know it!” 

“For sure!” Bae agreed readily, even as he groaned internally. Putting up Christmas lights? At the _Hatters’?_ Of course he had managed to get himself stuck helping to decorate the only other mansion in all of Storybrooke. “I can’t wait!” 

Grace looked at him strangely before shaking her head. “Dad wants to also get the inside done, too. He said that if we don’t mind starting there, he’ll worry about all the ‘dangerous ladder stuff that could potentially result in broken bones’.” The way she wrinkled her nose made him beam senselessly before he nodded again, slower this time.

“You’re going to be there? No choir practice?” His voice was calm, a fact that Bae was ridiculously grateful for considering the fact that his heart was currently doing its level best to beat itself right out of his chest. 

“Yeah! I figured the two of us can probably knock out the inside of the house in a couple hours? I know it’s a lot, but we make a pretty great team, yeah?” Grace was still smiling at him, and for the first time Bae noticed the flecks of snow still in her dark blonde hair. And the way the very tip of her nose was pink with the outside chill. Her cartigian was beautiful, a soft shade of pink with white roses printed on the fabric that did funny things to his stomach. It was beautiful, but very impractical for the outside weather. Bae made the executive decision to wear his warmest coat so he could give it to her on the walk to her place.


End file.
